September 5, 1866 Tsunami: Kodiak Island, AK, United States
A tsunami caused by an earthquake began at Kodiak Island, AK, United States on September 5, 1866 at 13:00:00 UTC. Its effects were recorded at 1 place.
Where the waves reached
The source (white) and every runup with a place, colored by the water height recorded there. A ring is a runup NCEI marks doubtful.
- Under 1 m
- 1 to 3 m
- 3 to 10 m
- 10 to 30 m
- 30 m and more
- Height not recorded
Travel times
How long the first wave took to reach each part of the ocean, one line for each hour up to 24, estimated from the source and the depth of the sea.
The travel times are computed in your browser, which needs JavaScript.
- 1 to 4 hours
- 5 to 6 hours
- 7 to 14 hours
- 15 hours and more
Computed in your browser the way NOAA’s own travel time maps are: the wave travels at the square root of gravity times the depth, over NOAA’s ETOPO1 depths averaged to a 10 arc-minute grid. Checked against NOAA NCEI’s maps for 21 tsunamis over the first 24 hours, these lines fall within 10 minutes of NCEI’s at half the points compared and within 52 minutes at 9 in 10. They give when the first wave could arrive, not how high it is; bays, harbors and island chains finer than the grid can see it later. Not for use in a warning: see tsunami.gov.
The tsunami
- Date
- September 5, 1866, 13:00:00 UTC
- Source
- Kodiak Island, AK, United States
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- The earthquake
- Runups recorded
- 1
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Questionable tsunami
- Source location
- 58.000° N, 152.000° W
The toll
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million)
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
1866, September 5, 3:00 A.M. There was a strong earthquake at Kodiak that half destroyed the landing at Woody Island. Many buildings and most stoves and chimneys were damaged
(Davies and Kisslinger, 1987). In Huggins (1981) there is a description of the effects of the Arica, Peru, tsunami of August 1868 with a mention of the still-remaining effects from an earlier event. Huggins states, "A very severe earthquake, accompanied by a tidal wave, occurred there
[Kodiak] some years ago. The effects of which are still visible in the warping and twisting of such houses as have not been built or rebuilt." From the Russian-American Company Records, 1866:
At Pavlovsk Harbor [Kodiak], at the beginning of
the fourth hour in the morning [just after 3 A.M.] of
25 August there was a strong earthquake in
complete darkness and a strong wind with rain. In
nearly all the houses chimneys tumbled down and
stoves split . . . On Lesnoi [Woody] Island the
dock was demolished and the shed fell on its side
. . . In one place [at Kalsin] the earth settled by
an arshin [28 inches] . . . In the middle of the
broad bay opposite the kekurs [sea stacks] the
water seethed for three days.
The report doesn't specifically mention a tsunami as the Huggins report asserts without details. Since the event occurred at night waves may not
have been noticed, or reported. No tsunami was seen on the San Diego marigram for this date and the San Francisco record was not found. Validity 2.
(above from reference #239)
Every runup
Nearest the source first. Heights are above sea level at the time; a tide gauge reads half the wave’s full height.
| Where | Country | Km from source | Water height, m | Inland, m | Measured by | First wave, UTC | Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kodiak Island, AK, AK doubtful | United States | 0 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1866The 1800sTsunamis of United StatesThe earthquakeThis day in weather historyAlerts in force
Sources
Tsunami events and runups from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI tsunami event 957.